Monday, April 06, 2020

A new normalcy

Some years ago, as I mused on the development of "universal precautions" in hospitals that came about largely from the increasing HIV prevalence, it occurred to me that it would be useful and instructional if restaurants, like hospitals, made touchless dispensers of sanitizer available in a number of locations on their premises, i.e., not just in the restrooms.
The idea would be to encourage the employees and patrons to use them, the former on some fairly frequent basis, the latter at least once on entering the restaurant. These dispensers should be easily visible so that people can see they're being used, and so that managers could see that the employees were using them too.
There is also no reason not to have a hand sanitizer at the entrance to all groceries.
Right now, with the vast shortage of sanitizers, this is hardly feasible, but once we're out of this, I think this idea should be promoted. Even without COVID-19, we can expect our usual seasonal flu every year.
We run the risk that once all the current measures are no longer felt necessary, people will fall back into complacence about infections. Until the next one comes along.

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